Ibrahima Socé Fall

Doctor Ibrahima Socé Fall is the Assistant Director-General for Emergencies Response. He was previously the Regional Emergencies Director for WHO in the African Region. Dr Fall has worked as the WHO Representative in Mali before being appointed by the UN Secretary General as Ebola Crisis Manager and Head of UN mission for Ebola Emergency Response in Mali in November 2014. He returned to WHO in March 2015 as Director of the Health Security and Emergencies Cluster in the Regional Office after a successful mission in leading partners’ support to interrupting Ebola virus disease transmission in Mali.. He largely contributed the reform of WHO’s work in emergencies from design to implementation following his contribution to ending Ebola in West Africa. Dr Fall was WHO Representative in Mali in the midst of the political and humanitarian crisis when WHO needed strong leadership and expertise to deal with complex emergencies. Prior to this role, Dr Fall was Regional Advisor in the WHO Regional Office for Africa in charge of strategic planning for the malaria programme as well as chair of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership’s strategic planning workstream at global level. He also coordinated capacity building for countries to access financing of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Dr Fall joined WHO in November 2003 as coordinator of the malaria intercountry support teams in the African Region. Dr Fall also served as a member of the experts group that led the introduction and implementation of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, which was launched in 1998 by WHO, UNICEF, UNDP and the World Bank. Before joining WHO, Dr Fall has occupied many positions in Senegal including head of epidemics and communicable diseases control, immunization at provincial level, Member of the National Malaria Control Program steering committee, and Lecturer in Public Health at the Dakar University. Dr Fall was trained as a military physician and has over 25 years’ experience in medical practice and Public Health. He has earned a doctorate in medicine, a Master’s in Public Health from Dakar University (UCAD), and a doctorate in Public Health jointly from Tulane University, Payson Center for International Development in the USA and UCAD, a Master of Science in International Development from Tulane University and a post-graduate diploma in tropical medicine and epidemiology in France at Aix-Marseille University and the Institute of Tropical Medicine of the French Army. Dr Fall is also a fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom.